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Since the passing of the pot legalization legislation in both Colorado and Washington State, I’ve been getting a lot of questions about cooking/baking with marijuana and the laws surrounding it. Similarly, lately I’ve also been getting a lot of questions about using alcohol in food products and what sort of labeling, testing, or consumer notification is required.

While both markets – ‘edibles’ for pot and alcohol-infused foods – offer entrepreneurs with potentially huge opportunities, I want to be upfront and say that I simply do not have the legal knowledge required on this topic to be able to speak comfortably about it. My understanding is that the edibles market alone, because it’s such a new ‘legal’ market, is something that state, federal, and local regulators are currently trying to figure out as well. With regards to alcohol in food, the allowances here may come down, in part, to local liquor laws.

All of this is to say that while there are business opportunities out there, if you decide to go down either of these routes make sure you do your due diligence regarding the safety of the product for consumers and what checkpoints you’ll have in place to ensure that safety at all times. You also need to understand what is going to be required from a licensing or labeling standpoint for your region and/or nationwide sales. As always, when in doubt, a lawyer is a great resource to call upon.

3 comments on “Sinfully Good Food – Alcohol and Pot in Food”

Interesting post and topic. I’m curious to see how the country will follow in the years to come. Florida has medical marijuana up for vote soon enough, and consumables and infused products have long been an untapped market. I have seen alcohol-infused products come to my attention, but the consumables have not reached Florida (for legal reasons).

Alcohol-infused products fall under rigid scrutiny, but the infrastructure for bringing these products to market does exist. For marijuana consumables, I could only recommend to refer to your state legislature and follow the guidelines of the state’s currently permitting production and distribution.

It’s going to be very interesting to see how this all plays out in the future. For some who are willing to take the risk and understand that there are huge hurdles to cross, this could end up being the beginning of a new – and very profitable – niche market.

I don’t know if I would consider the broad category of Edibles as a niche market. It will certainly be a long haul to educate the public. As America is seeing, states are slow to change despite the apparent benefits that Colorado, for example, has seen. Large economic benefits have yet to outweigh the legal stigma and predisposed ideologies.

I agree that it will definitely be interesting to watch the tale unfold as this generation is on the brink of changing so many cultural norms. Edibles, as per Colorado regulation, and the marijuana industry overall, are irrefutably lucrative industries. The hardest part will be for the early brands to establish themselves and be savvy with company resources to weather the storm of legislation and policy adoption.